FHA might need taxpayer bailout next year

November 22, 2011

FHA might need taxpayer bailout next year

There might yet be another casualty in the real-estate market: the Federal Housing Administration.

With home prices still seeking their bottom, the federal agency that insures more than $1 trillion in mortgages faces a nearly 50 percent chance that it could need a taxpayer bailout next year, according to a government report released this past week.

If the housing market fails to rebound next year, the FHA would need as much as $43 billion from the U.S. Treasury to stay afloat, the report said.